(meteorobs) October 22, 2004 Meteor Observations from California

[Robert Lunsford]

Robin Gray and I observed for another five hours from the Trona Pinnacles 
National Monument. We had to start an hour later as the bright moon was 
still above the horizon at midnight. The sky did not seem as impressive as 
the previous night but limiting magnitude estimates were still close. I 
committed a major goof during the second hour and somehow activated the 
"pause" button on my cassette recorder. All data was lost from 9:27 to 9:57 
UT. Luckily I check the recorder each time I do a star count and caught the 
problem. At least I did not lose the entire night's data! I got some very 
strange rates this morning. Orionid rates were bouncing up and down all 
night. The Sporadic rates were also quite strange with the highest rates 
occurring during the first hour of the night. The remaining four hours had 
sporadic rates much less than expected. I neglected to mention in my last 
post that several of the brightest Orionids appeared green. This trend 
continued this morning. Several also appeared white with green trains. 
Orange was another popular color for the brighter Orionids. The Antihelions 
(Taurids) were almost non-existent tonight. I probably would have seen more 
had I faced a bit closer to their radiant, which I will do on the third 
night.

October  22, 2004

0800-0900 UT  1.00  6.61   2 ANT   13 ORI  0 EGE  0 LMI
                                             0 NPX   0 SPX  8 SPO  23 TOTAL

0900-1000 UT  0.50  6.58   0 ANT   10 ORI  1 EGE  1 LMI
                                             0 NPX   0 SPX  5 SPO  17 TOTAL

1000-1100 UT  1.00  6.59   0 ANT   14 ORI  1 EGE  0 LMI
                                             0 NPX   0 SPX  4 SPO  19 TOTAL

1100-1200 UT  0.92  6.59   0 ANT   14 ORI  1 EGE  0 LMI
                                             3 NPX   0 SPX  6 SPO  24 TOTAL

1200-1300 UT  1.00  6.34    1 ANT   31  ORI  1 EGE  0 LMI
                                             2 NPX   1 SPX  4 SPO  40 TOTAL

TOTALS:          4.50  6.53   3 ANT   82  ORI  4 EGE  1 LMI
                                             5 NPX   1 SPX  27 SPO  123 
TOTAL

The first column gives the period watched stated in Universal Time (UT)
which is PDT + 7 hours. The second column gives the percent of that
particular hour actually spent observing the sky. The third column gives
the average limiting magnitude estimated during each period. The last
several columns list the activity seen during each period. I was facing
southeast at an altitude of 50 degrees during the entire session. No
breaks were taken.  ANT = Antihelion radiant, ORI = Orionids,
EGE = Epsilon Geminids, LMI = Leo Minorids, NPX = Northern
Apex, SPX =  Southern Apex and SPO = Sporadics (random activity).

Location: Trona Pinnacles 117 22" 32" W  35 06' 03" N

Bortle Scale Estimate: Class II (Typical Truly Dark Site)

Beginning Temperature/Relative Humidity: 44 F (7 C) 77%
Ending              "               "             "        40 F (4 C) 89%

MAGNITUDES:

ANT:  0 (0)  +1 (1) +2 (0) +3 (0) +4 (2) +5 (0) +6 (0)   AVE: +3.00
ORI : -2 (1) -1 (0) 0  (4) +1 (9) +2 (19) +3 (26)            AVE: +2.72
          +4 (16) +5 (7) +6 (0)
EGE:  0 (1) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (2) +4 (1) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.00
LMI:  0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (1) +3 (0) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +2.00
NPX: 0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (2) +3 (1) +4 (1) +5 (1) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.20
SPX:  0 (0) +1 (0) +2 (0) +3 (1) +4 (0) +5 (0) +6 (0)    AVE: +3.00
SPO:  0 (0) +1 (2) +2 (3) +3 (11) +4 (9) +5 (1) +6 (0)  AVE: +3.15

Bob Lunsford
San Diego, CA USA